Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer

The 2012 Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer raised $5.2 million for cancer research – making the event the largest single fundraiser in Queensland's history.

Thank you to the 1,519 Riders and 294 crew for making the day a fantastic show of strength.

The money will be used to make a difference to the lives of those with cancer and will support a range of world leading projects at QIMR.

QIMR has announced the first round of research projects funded by the 2012 event, with more to come.

The projects include:

• Decoding susceptibility to breast cancer 
• Factors that influence survival in ovarian cancer
• Using blood-based markers to predict the spread of breast cancer in patients
• Optimisation of a new drug that kills secondary breast cancer
• Understanding bone and brain metastasis in breast cancer patients
• A first step towards new stomach cancer drugs
• Identifying genomic changes associated with tobacco smoking
• Optimising the use of colonoscopy in Queensland (bowel cancer)
  
• Gene changes that cause bowel cancer
  
• Understanding how leukaemia arises from normal blood cells
  
• Dissecting the role of T-cells in chronic graft versus host disease (blood cancers)
  
• Engineering new vaccines for virus-associated cancers (blood cancer)
  
• Understanding the mechanisms of specific proteins in prostate cancer
  
• Developing new methods to improve “personalised medicine” in treating late stage melanoma
  
• Identifying new genes involved in melanoma
  
• Analysis of the role of a virus protein in brain cancer
  
• Patient reported outcomes of pancreatic, bowel and endometrial cancer and melanoma

Dr Graham Radford-Smith explaining his grant to research bowel cancer risk

Dr Steven Lane explaining his grant to research acute myeloid leukaemia

Dr Andrea Schuessler explaining her grant to research brain cancer.

Dr John Miles explaining his grant to research the virus behind cancer.

Dr Vanessa Beesley explaining GO PRO for cancer care

Dr Carolin Offenhausen researching prostate cancer treatments thanks to the Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer

Dr Adrian Wiegmans explaining his grant to research how to starve breast cancer cells

Professor Andreas Moller explaining his grant to research breast cancer

Dr Ken Dutton-Regester explaining his grant to research melanoma

The 2011 Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer raised $4.7 million for cancer research at QIMR.

The 2011 event helped fund projects including:

• Major research into personalised cancer immunotherapy treatments
• Trials for leukaemia and brain cancer treatments
• The largest skin cancer study ever conducted in order to identify risk factors
• Identifying how DNA is damaged in breast cancer patients
• Investigating the response to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients
• Developing methods for the early detection of prostate cancer